Rowling in it

Harry Potter turned JK Rowling into a billionaire. Yet others got a piece of the action. Is a fortune sitting on every Muggle’s bookshelf?

Opening night of the theme park The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Florida (Roberto Gonzales)
Adrian Greenwood, an Oxford dealer in rare books, is selling a copy of Harry
Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published only 13 years ago, for an
eye-watering £19,950. It isn’t even properly signed. JK Rowling’s signature
appears on a Bloomsbury book label, scrawled in Biro, Pritt-Sticked onto the
inside cover. The reason it’s worth the price of a souped-up family saloon
is its rarity. This particular book is one of only 400 or so first-edition
hardbacks produced primarily for libraries. About 350 of those have been
“ruined” by library date stamps and markings. Only the remaining 50 escaped
unscathed. Greenwood has already had an offer of £16,000 for his copy, but
he’s reluctant to part with it at a discount.

It’s not just those rare hardbacks from 1997 that are valuable. Even the final
instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, printed in
its millions and published